Kurt's Audition
by DumbHumanLikeYou
Summary: After transferring to Dalton Academy, Kurt auditions for the Warblers. Hints of Klaine.


"Mr. Hummel, please desist your tapping immediately."

Kurt gave his English teacher an apologetic smile as he forced his foot still. His mind couldn't stay focused on John Steinbeck, instead drifting away to glee club. Today he would be formally auditioning for the Dalton Academy Warblers.

Mercedes had come over after school yesterday to help him rehearse. Although she wasn't fond of the idea of him joining the Warblers, because it meant they would be competing against each other at Sectionals, she wanted to see him happy. It was her idea that he use a song he had performed in front of New Directions, and use the comments and critiques from his old classmates to help him.

After hours of going back and forth between Defying Gravity and I Want to Hold Your Hand, it was actually a text message from Quinn that made him choose Le Jazz Hot. She was one of the few McKinley students who supported his transfer, stating she knew how bad the bullying got when she was pregnant last year.

Kurt and Mercedes had worked on the song all night. They had eliminated all the choreography he had used before, as he would be in his new Dalton uniform and there wouldn't be anyone else on stage performing with him. Displaying the same passion in the song while standing still proved to be a challenge at first, but they made it work, and he went to bed smiling and humming the Julie Andrews tune.

School moved slower than usual that day, as he ran the lyrics over and over and over again in his head. Between every period he snuck into the bathroom or the choir room to run through a few vocal warm-ups. Finally, three p.m. had arrived, and he made his way to the rehearsal space.

"Nervous?"

Kurt turned around and saw Blaine, one of the captains of the Warblers and the boy Kurt had secretly been crushing on since first touring the school.

"Not really," he answered, putting on an air of confidence. One look at Blaine, though, and that mask fell. "Okay, maybe a little bit. Or even a lot."

Blaine put his arm around Kurt, squeezing his shoulder. "You'll be fine. If New Directions is half as upset to lose you as the show choir blogs say, then you're a shoe-in."

Kurt nodded, even though the current closeness with his crush was only adding to his nerves.

The duo walked into the choir room. Kurt took a moment to adjust to the surroundings; every time he thought of his audition he had mentally put himself back in McKinley High's rehearsal space. Blaine moved to the piano to talk to his two co-captains and Mr. McCoy, the advisor.

Kurt stood in the front of the room, clutching his sheet music. The Warblers looked back at him, wearing expressions that varied from supportive to skeptical. Ryan Olson, who sat next to him in Chemistry, offered him a small smile and mouthed _good luck_.

"Alright guys, you remember Kurt," Nick Davies said, walking from the piano to address the choir. Kurt waved to the group. "He just transferred here from New Directions. Give him your attention and respect. What will you be auditioning with today, Kurt?"

"Oh, um… Le Jazz Hot, from the seminal classic movie _Victor/Victoria_," he said, remembering saying those exact words to his former glee club. The answer got a modest response from the Warblers, and Blaine gave a nod of approval. Kurt handed the sheet music over to Nick, who passed it on to Mr. McCoy sitting at the piano. The captains took their seats as the music began to play.

The instrumental sounded so much different on the piano than with McKinley's jazz band, but Kurt assured himself that lack of competition would only make his voice shine brighter. He took a deep breath, counted the beats in his head, and joined in.

"_About twenty years ago, way down in New Orleans_," he started, embracing his lower register. He was always more comfortable with his upper range, but he wanted to show the Warblers he was excellent at both. His voice dropped to the low _jazz _perfectly, taking delight in the widening eyes of the group. As the song began to pick up tempo, he began to tap his foot and move his hips along with the music. A few boys began to snap their fingers to the beat.

"_When you play me le jazz hot, baby, you're holding my soul together._" Kurt could hear the rich, jazzy tone in his own voice, and knew he was nailing the song. He tried as hard as he could not to smile, afraid that it would cause him to go flat on the higher notes, but he was thoroughly enjoying himself up there. It was the same exhilaration he felt when he watched Blaine sing his heart out to Katy Perry. He was finally singing because he loved to sing and be with his new friends, not to fulfill some assignment or to prove Finn wrong.

This newfound passion took over the song, adding so much ferocity to one of the _jazz hot_s that Blaine's eyebrows shot up in surprise. And once he reached the higher notes, he hit them perfectly. Challenging himself at the spur of the moment, he took the last long _hot_ and started out deeper than the music required, hitting every note on the scale until he reached the highest note. He hit it perfectly, and held it there for a few seconds longer than he was supposed to, sweeping his hair back while doing so.

When he uttered the last, quiet _le jazz hot_ and the music stopped, he was greeted with a moment of silence. Long, terrifying silence, and he wondered if his pitch had been off the whole time and he had just made a fool of himself. But the Warblers all got to their feet and gave him the largest round of applause he had heard since Regionals.

Words of approval were being tossed around the room, and Kurt stood there, floored by the response. The group began talking animatedly about the performance and their improved chances of winning Sectionals when Mr. McCoy raised his hands and told them to quiet down. He then look to Kurt and smiled.

"Kurt, you have an unbelievable sound! I never would have expected such a, a _rich _voice from you. When we saw New Directions perform at Regionals-"

"You guys were at Regionals?" he asked, shocked. He looked towards the group, wondering why Blaine or Ryan or any of the members had forgotten to mention that detail.

"When we were debating to move the group to a competitive setting," Nick Davies said, "we went to check out our future competition. No offense or anything, but since you didn't really have a featured part in your set, a few of us kind of assumed you were just a background singer.

We were clearly, clearly wrong."

Kurt grinned at the kind words. The other captain also showered him with praise, and then all eyes went to Blaine, the third and final captain who would help decide Kurt's fate. Kurt felt like a contestant on _American Idol_, waiting to hear those fateful words from Simon Cowell. Just as a contestant would fret about Simon's pivotal opinion, Kurt found himself caring about what Blaine thought of his performance more than anything.

"Kurt, hearing you sing," he began, and Kurt blanched, hoping that his chances with Blaine wouldn't be destroyed by his performance. He prepared himself for the worst, not expecting: "was an absolute honor.

"That was one of the most, most _beautiful_ performances I've ever heard. Just, just look at me!" he laughed, showing his hands. "I'm still shaking. I just feel so humbled, so privileged to have witnessed that. I mean it. Wow."

Kurt could feel the tears spring to his eyes as Mr. McCoy wrapped an arm around Kurt and welcomed him to the Warblers. "Alright, take five guys," the advisor said, reminding Kurt vaguely of Mr. Schuester. The boys moved into the open space and began talking amongst themselves, many of them coming over to congratulate their newest member.

Kurt, overwhelmed by the welcome, was shocked to find himself spun around and pulled into a hug. His breath hitched in his throat when he heard Blaine's voice in his ear.

"That was amazing. I just can't say that enough," he gushed. He pulled back to look Kurt in the eyes. "You're just… amazing, Kurt."

The two of them stood there for a moment, faces six inches apart. Kurt stole a glance at Blaine's lips, blushing as he did so. Blaine flashed him a smile, making the younger boy wonder if he had noticed the glance. The captain turned towards the rest of the Warblers.

"Alright, guys! We've got to get Kurt up to speed with what we've worked on so far. The music should come easy enough to him," he said, winking at Kurt, "so how about we run through all our choreography today?"

Two hours later, the newly expanded Warblers sat around three pushed-together tables at the local Breadstix. They were having a group dinner together to celebrate Kurt's arrival and the team's newfound confidence of winning Sectionals. Although having just met his new teammates, Kurt felt as though he had gone to Dalton for years, and had no problem joining conversation.

Blaine wrapped his arm around the back of Kurt's chair and leaned in close. "What do you think?"

"This is perfect," he sighed, thinking of both his newfound family and the boy with his arm around him.

"Better than McKinley?"

Kurt paused. His old glee club hadn't even crossed his mind all rehearsal. Slowly, he nodded.

"So much better."


End file.
